The invention relates to a concealed fastening of a door handle on a panelling of a vehicle door, vehicle flap or the like.
Such a fastening of a door handle is known from U.S. Pat. No. DE 4,024,003 Cl and makes it possible to mount and dismount the door handle from outside, that is to say without removing the door interior trim.
The known door handle comprises a handle-recess plate which forms the handle recess and on which a swingout handle lever is mounted and in which a lock cylinder is fastened. For the attachment of this constructional unit, there projects from the rear side of the handle recess plate in the front end region a hook arm which can be inserted through a clearance in the exterior panelling and which, when the door handle is subsequently displaced longitudinally, slides, with an end region engaging behind, onto a holding plate which projects from the exterior panelling and which, at the same time, is bent obliquely rearwards towards the inside of the door. There projects from the rear side of the handle-recess plate in the rear end region a wedge-shaped holding flange which can likewise be inserted through a clearance in the exterior panelling and which can subsequently be screwed, through an orifice in the end face of the door, together with an angled leg of the exterior panelling.
The door handle is thus connected to the door body in a manner stable under tension by means of a single fastening screw. In order to allow compensation of production tolerances during the mounting of the door handle, there passes through the end region of the hook arm engaging behind, at fight angles to the plane of the holding plate behind which it engages, a threaded bore, into which is screwed an adjusting screw, the threaded shank of which projects from the end region and rests with its end on the holding plate. So that the end of the adjusting screw can slide more easily onto the holding plate during the longitudinal displacement of the door handle, the threaded shank is bevelled at the end on one circumferential side. Since the end region of the hook arm is to engage behind the holding plate in a manner essentially free of play, but on the other hand the door exterior panelling should not be subjected to bulging stress and even damage to the enamelled holding plate caused by scratching must be avoided in view of the risk of corrosion, an adjustment of the hook-fastening point is relatively time-consuming. This is true all the more so because, when the fastening screw is being tightened, the door handle can also experience a longitudinal advance which is also associated with a further advance of the end region in relation to the holding plate.
An object on which the invention is based is to improve a concealed fastening of a door handle on a panelling of a vehicle door, vehicle flap or the like, of the type indicated above to the effect that a quicker mounting of the door handle becomes possible without any loss of mounting accuracy.
The solution according to the invention for achieving this object is to provide an arrangement wherein the spacer is arranged on the hook arm so as to be displaceable transversely to the counter face of the support bearing and is held under a spring load in its bearing position on the support bearing. As a result of the continuously displaceable arrangement of the spacer in conjunction with the spring load of the latter, a playfree engagement behind the support bearing is obtained automatically during the mounting.
So that no instabilities can be detected at the support-bearing point during the normal operation of the door handle, the spring force of the load spring is expediently selected so high that it overrides the tensile forces occurring on the support bearing during a customary operation of the door handle.
Extreme tensile loads on the door handle, such as have to be exerted, for example, when the door is jammed as a result of an accident, can, if the need arises, be supported by the spring if this comes to a block. However, a more compact and also more cost-effective construction at the support-bearing point becomes possible if, after an intended spring excursion of the load spring has been used up, at least part faces of the end region of the hook arm engaging behind bear on the support bearing in a bearing position.
In one embodiment of the invention, a tappet is slidably guided in an annular guide of the end region and is loaded axially via a helical compression spring. At the same time, a complete integration of the tappet arrangement in the cross-section of the end region is possible. However, the manufacturing outlay in the production of the end region is considerable. Also, as seen in cross-section, the end region has to be made of relatively large size, in order to allow the tappet end to be supported over a large area.
More favorable conditions are obtained in an alternative version of the spacer, in which a slide is guided on a sliding guide of the end region and forms an engaging-behind part region of the end region. Moreover, a simple and rapid attachment of the slide on the sliding rail by snapping on can become possible if the slide is made of flexurally elastic material .